Beyond the Beyond: Update 53.5: More of that Aftermath

[ladyabaxa]

Beyond the Beyond: Update 53.5: More of that Aftermath

Continuing due to character limits...

When the kids finally exit the throne room they see a lone soldier doing something that sort of resembles patrolling.

Is the meeting over?
More or less.
What's the verdict? Are we going after Bandore?
Not yet.
I don't think Bandore's army will be back here for a while. We should still be careful, though.

With Bandore soldiers no longer crawling all over the castle the kids can actually take their time seeing all there is to see. First of all is this painting hanging on the wall just outside the throne room.

Searching it brings up this picture. It's just a silly little thing thrown into the game for the heck of it.

Upstairs the kids find the castle is deserted. There's a small bedroom which is presumably for the king. Where does Edward sleep? For that matter where do any of the soldiers and knights stationed in the castle sleep? Darn you Law of Conservation of Detail!

So this was the room used by Shutat's minion's?
Pretty small for three people.
Eww, there's dust everywhere.
I guess the minions weren't home very often.
Ramue always seemed to be busy torturing and cursing people so I guess that's plausible.
Prraa! There's even dust on the books.
"King's Knowledge" eh? I wonder what falls under that category?

Hey there's one of those magical card thingees on top of these books.
Edward's not here so as resident team magician I'll take responsibility for that.
*snickers*
Hey, it's like you said Annie, without him around the rest of us have to step up!

A closet in the room contains a Tornado Card that I could have grabbed earlier but when you're being attacked every few steps by hordes of deadly enemies you tend to stop worrying about closets and start looking for the next event trigger to get them off your back.

Heading back downstairs to the second floor the kids see a soldier on guard duty.

See anything unusual lately?
It's been quiet since Bandore left. Hey wait a minute you're the kids who were with Prince Edward!
You recognize us?
Well not recognized but I joined up with some of Sir Piat's troops and they told me about you guys.
Finn's becoming famous!
Give it a couple of weeks, Steiner.
The castle is so quiet it's almost unnerving. Now that the dead have been taken away there's just a whole lot of empty space. Sir Galahad is going to have his work cut out for him replacing our losses. It won't ever be the same though.
You lost friends?
Yeah. We all have. In the west tower, a young man was being held for helping the Prince escape. I'm not sure what happened to him. I heard the sorceress Ramue had an interest in him. I hope he escaped.
Yeah I know how you feel.

The west tower, meanwhile, is utterly empty.

We should have done something to save him, Finn.
But there was nothing we could do. Like Edward said if we had interfered Ramue's spell could have sent him straight into his death.
I think my brother would prefer that to being Ramue's toy.
He's probably somewhere in Bandore. That's the logical place to send him right? So all we gotta do is get into Bandore and if need be knock some sense into him.
You make it sound so easy, Tont.
That's what I'm here for as team magician!

Heading downstairs towards the back gate the kids find it open with a soldier on duty nearby. (At least somebody is down here making sure no one tries to sneak in.)

Hi there kids. Is it true that there was a battle between Sir Galahad and Lord Shutat?
Calling it a battle would be overstating what happened.
Lord Shutat had three other generals with him. They were all scary people.
We met one. Where were the other two when Bandore needed them?
That's a good question.
I heard they were out looking for Sir Galahad and the rebels. Bandore was taken by surprise so I guess they couldn't get back in time.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch!

There are two staircases heading down. The one on the west side is closer so the team goes there first. On a side note the castle's back gate is actually open at all times throughout the game. That can't be good for security.

Downstairs the kids finds what must be the castle archives.

Books, books as far as the eye can see.
Well we're here and we've got nothing better to do and there's no telling if one of these might be useful so I guess we'd better get to work.

The kids walk to the end of the first row to the shelf in the corner.

Just gonna go down the line?
Unless you have a better idea.
And our first contestant is... "Secrets of the Abyss". It says, "The Abyss is the intersection between the Common World and the Underworld. When the balance between the two worlds becomes upset, the Abyss shall appear."
Wow some of these books might actually be helpful to us.
I'm a little confused about how a book about an interdimensional vortex came to be part of the library here. Shouldn't something like that be in Simone?
Hmm, the next shelf might have something to say about that, Finn. "Marion: A Kingdom Under Arawn's Guidance". It says, "Marion is the chosen bloodline of Arawn. From Marion will arise the Great Light."
I still want to know when this Great Light thing is going to be unleashed or whatever. It seems to me like we're doing all the work while it's sitting on its ass.
Maybe it only comes out to play when things get really, really bad?
Well there was that sacrifice or whatever to give it life. Maybe it's just bitter about what happened?
You know what? Whatever it is as long as it doesn't get in the way or hurt us I don't really care what it does. Let's just move on. The next book is "Quamdar: The Location of the Agreement".
Wait are all these books about this Great Light and ancient war stuff?
This one isn't. "The Secret of Shrine Island".
What is the secret of Shrine Island?
I don't know! It doesn't have a synopsis and this is a pretty thick book.
And finally we have "Marion's Family Tree" but it's torn and unreadable! Wow someone really did a number on this!
Yeah that is definitely ruined. Looks pretty old too. What a shame.
I wonder who did this. I mean it sounds like something about the royal family. You'd think they'd want something like this intact.
Are you sure it's about Edward's family? I mean, it sounds like it could be the descendants of a person named Marion, not necessarily a family in Marion.
I don't know what other family would be important enough to warrant having a family tree in the castle archives.
Well that other book was talking about how Marion was the chosen bloodline and all that. Could just be a noble family or something.
I guess that's possible. Whoever they are I guess they weren't important enough for their family tree to survive unscathed.
Prraa! Maybe the last member of the family was the one who got sacrificed and that's why we've never heard of them!
Ok this has taken a turn for the super creepy! Can... can we find something else to talk about? Please?
Let's just move on to the next row, Finn.
Right behind ya.

Second row

"The Encyclopedia of the Greenheim Continent". Boring!
"The Ruined Continent of Aridia". Now that's just rude.
I'm sure Bandore will settle down and stop attacking other countries if we tell them their continent is ruined.
Or they'll just attack more countries to get out of the wasteland!
Speaking of Bandore here's "Favoring Combat: Bandore". It's written by a group that wishes to keep world peace.
They failed.
"Marion's Beautiful Women". A picture collection of cute girls. Oh! Annie's in it!
Let me see that!
Oh hey I remember the day that you posed for that picture! You couldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes!
I told Mom I wasn't interested but she kept insisting.
"Bandore's Military Power" is on the last shelf here. Kind of a mixed bag with this row isn't it?

Third row

Well on to the last row. This should be good for a laugh.
"Brave People: Barbaros". Well how brave can they be when no one else in the world ever sees them?
Prraaa. Here's one for you Finn. "One Must Go For It!"
Go for what?
Treasure of course!
"Sometimes Giving Up..." is what? What book?! Huh, huh?!
We've been reduced to being beligerent towards books. Arawn help us.
Hmm, this book has just a one word title: "Destiny". I think this book's destiny is to return to collecting dust.
That's the spirit, Finn!
"Class Change". It's published by the Shrine of Discipline. I don't even know what to make of this. How does a shrine of discipline help change one's social class?
Maybe it teaches you how to be super disciplined with your money so you can just buy a fancy title?
Soooo, let me see if I've got this straight. One must go for it because sometimes giving up results in destiny forcing you through a class change. Sounds about right.
I think we're done here.

Heading back upstairs the team then descends the staircase that the emperor and Shutat had previously used. They come to a small room that only presents horror and a vexing realization that Shutat really shouldn't have missed his ride.

Finn are you ok? You're just making these sad, half-crying noises.
It can't be! No, I refuse to believe this!

All six treasure chests are already empty.

Believe it, Finn. They raided the treasury ahead of you.
Shuuuttaaaaat!

What is that sound?

Elsewhere...

*trembles*
What's wrong Lord Shutat?
I think someone just walked over my grave.

Finn I'm pretty sure there are no secret passages in here.
Maybe if I bang my head against the wall enough times I'll wake up from this nightmare.
I know you feel cheated but it's not really that big of a deal. In a week you'll hardly remember this.
Oh no I'm not going to forget. I'm going to get even!
You're going to steal everything in Bandore that's not nailed down aren't you?
Damn right I am!

Eventually Finn has to admit defeat and wander off to the castle's main hall.

They cleaned this place up quick didn't they?
*grumbles something under his breath*
Oh hi there kids. Everything ok?
We're fine. My brother's just a bit upset right now. Don't worry about it.
My partner in crime was wondering how you all cleaned this place up so quickly.
Well we kind of need a place to live and this is it. Still it's going to be a somber night. We should not revel in our victory. Instead we should fix our problems and look to the future.
That seems to be Sir Galahad's way of seeing things.

Just off to the west of the above screenshot in a small room is a lone soldier.

Ahh... finally! Back in my home town again. It's good to be home!
I guess not everyone's going to be gloomy. Some people are just happy to be home.
I thought I'd never see this place again. You don't know how much of a relief it is to be here.
I don't have a home town so I'll have to take your word on that, human.

Not everything is a disappointment as the kids find the room that's been locked forever has suddenly become unlocked.

Treasure!
Uh, I have some bad news, Finn.
What? We're taking all of this stuff.
Well our completely full bags mean we can't carry it so unless Steiner wants to help it's going to have to stay here.
Don't look at me. I can't fly if I'm carrying a bunch of junk.
Well... okay. We know where this is so we can come back and get it later.

Down in the dungeons the many cells have new occupants.

Sir Galahad's troops have been busy rounding up all the stragglers from Bandore haven't they?
There are no guards posted down here.
If any of these people were to get out of their cell where would they run to? Their emperor abandoned them here.
I guess no matter what army it is some people are always going to get left behind during a retreat.
Maybe one of these prisoners knows something about Shutat.
(cell 1) Shutat? I don't know anything about Lord Shutat! He came from out of nowhere and suddenly became Bandore's general.
Prrraa! Forceful and to the point!
(cell 2) Not everyone agreed on invading Marion, that is until Ramue killed Bandore's advisor. Now, no one disagrees with Lord Shutat.
I disagree with Shutat.
And you've even managed to avoid being killed by Ramue several times!
(cell 4) Lord Shutat advised the emperor to invade Marion, and now this is how things turned out.
So Ramue took out the voice of reason in Bandore. No wonder the emperor became so dead-set on a disastrous war. That's all he was hearing.
Is it normal for advisors to be killed in Bandore and nobody to do anything to their killers?
(cell 2) It is if the emperor tells you to keep your mouth shut or you'll be next.
Hmm, you know this might actually be useful for us.

Cell 3 is empty by the way.

Rounding the corner the kids find even more prisoners of war.

(cell 5-1) I heard you talking to the other prisoners. I think there is some fearful secret to Lord Shutat.
What makes you say that?
Besides the horns on his head.
(cell 5-1) The Emperor has changed since he met Lord Shutat.
(cell 5-2) The emperor was nice to the soldiers until Lord Shutat arrived. Then he wouldn't listen to anybody but Shutat. He changed completely.
(cell 5-1) That's what I just said!
(cell 5-2) No you said the emperor had changed. I was just elaborating on the why and how much.
(cell 5-1) Aargh! Hey kid I don't suppose I could be moved to another cell?
Uh, I don't really make those decisions. You'll have to ask an actual guard.
What if the emperor changed because Shutat put a spell on him?
I think it's more likely the old coot was just ambitious but too scared to actually act on it until someone came whispering promises of power in his ear.
(cell 7) What's going to happen to us? Do you kids know?
Nobody tells me anything.
Eh, Dad'll probably let you guys out in a few months.
(cell 6) I was captured, but I'm so relieved that I'm finally away from Lord Shutat. There is something inhuman about him. It's so scary being near him.
Seriously, Shutat has horns! HORNS! How is it no one thought that was unusual?
(cell 6) Well, uhh...
(cell 5-1) Because by the time Shutat was well known in Bandore he already had the emperor's ear and no one wanted to say anything lest they earned the emperor's wrath.
Pryaa. At least this human has enough sense in them to want to get away from the Vicious Ones.
(cell 7) Is Marion going to invade Bandore?
Why do you ask?
(cell 7) You'd better watch out for Lord Shutat and his followers Ramue, Yeon, and Dagoot. They're like monsters. I don't think they are from our world.
We kinda already reached that conclusion but thanks anyway.

Heading back above ground the kids once again make their way across the castle and out the front gate. They have seen enough of this castle to last a lifetime in the span of just one day. To the west they find a soldier sitting in the grass.

Hi kids! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off playing or something?
We've got business of our own.
Relaxing after a hard day's work?
Yeah. After a battle, I always wonder how I survived. Am I the only one that thinks about these things?
I doubt it.
I've wondered that a few times myself.
Life's too short to take for granted. You have to appreciate every day that you live to see!
I can definitely agree with that statement.

On the east side of the courtyard by the pond is another soldier who is not so cheerful.

What's wrong, human? You look so sad.
Shutat and his soldiers dispatched my friends in a matter of seconds. If I hadn't fainted at the time, I might have been...
Yeah that's pretty bad.
I am grateful to still be alive but nothing is the same without my friends.
You'll just have to live for them from now on.
Steiner that's... actually pretty deep.
Meh.

Well whaddya know, the groggy system DOES save lives.

One thing I forgot to show off earlier in the game is the fact that it is possible to walk off the drawbridge along either direction along the walls. There's nothing on either side even though it looks like there should be a hidden path or two. I guess something was planned at one point but didn't make it in.

Next time on Beyond the Beyond - the castle seems to be in order so the kids will venture beyond its walls out into town.

Update Fifty-three | Index | Update Fifty-four